Pastor's Book Questions Existence of Hell in Afterlife

"What do you think? How do you read it?"
he asks, again and again and again.

The ancient sages said the words of the sacred text
were black letters on a white page—there's all that
white space, waiting to be filled with our responses and
discussions and debates and opinions and longings and
desires and wisdom and insights. We read the words, and
then enter into the discussion that has been going on for
thousands of years across cultures and continents.

My hope is that this frees you. There is no question that
Jesus cannot handle, no discussion too volatile, no issue
too dangerous. At the same time, some issues aren't as
big as people have made them. Much blood has been
spilled in church splits, heresy trials, and raging debates
over issues that are, in the end, not that essential.
Sometimes what we are witnessing is simply a massive
exercise in missing the point. Jesus frees us to call things
what they are.

And then, last of all, please understand that nothing in
this book hasn't been taught, suggested, or celebrated
by many before me. I haven't come up with a radical
new teaching that's any kind of departure from what's
been said an untold number of times. That's the beauty
of the historic, orthodox Christian faith. It's a deep,
wide, diverse stream that's been flowing for thousands
of years, carrying a staggering variety of voices,
perspectives, and experiences.

If this book, then, does nothing more than introduce
you to the ancient, ongoing discussion surrounding
the resurrected Jesus in all its vibrant, diverse, messy,
multivoiced complexity—well, I'd be thrilled.